Police files are physical or digital records maintained by law enforcement agencies. Police files contain vast amounts of data about many things, are kept indefinitely or for long periods of time, and can be efficiently analyzed and cross-referenced using digital tools.
Notable examples of police files include:
- Databases of government-issued ID documents (ID cards, driving licenses, passports).
- Databases of biometric information (face photographs, fingerprints, DNA).
- Records of ID checks, fines, arrests, investigation proceedings, judicial proceedings, and convictions.
Used in tactics: Deterrence, Incrimination
Mitigations
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Attack | You can destroy cabinets that store police files on paper and data centers that store them digitally. |
Used in repressive operations
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Case against Boris | Investigators found out that the DNA on the bottle cap belonged to Boris because his DNA was in France's national DNA database[1]. Investigators obtained and analyzed records of local police activity (ID checks and fines) shortly before and after the sabotages, in different perimeters around where the sabotages took place, presumably hoping to find the names of the saboteurs in those records. |
| Bure criminal association case | Investigators extensively used police files to establish links between people, including databases of driver's licenses and registered vehicles, as well as records of arrests, judicial proceedings and convictions[2]. |
| 2011-2013 case against Jeremy Hammond | Under his online persona, Jeremy Hammond shared in online chats that he had been arrested at the 2004 Republican National Convention, had spent time in a federal prison and in a county jail, and was currently on probation[3]. Investigators were able to verify all of this using police files, which helped them to link Jeremy Hammond's online persona to his real life identity. |